A development proposal sign from the city of Fort Collins stands along the north edge of the Link-N-Greens golf course Feb. 26. / V. Richard Haro/Coloradoan library

Written by

Estimated city financing package at a glance

Estimated property tax increment generated: $30 million Total DDA tax increment revenues: $16.7 million Manufacturing equipment and construction use tax rebates: $3.8 million (80 percent of estimated $4.7 million expected to be paid on equipment and construction) Capital expansion/PIF rebates: $2.7 million Development review fees rebate: $300,000 Total: $23.5 million Source: City of Fort Collins

More

ADVERTISEMENT

Woodward Inc. will expand its manufacturing and corporate headquarters at the former Link-N-Greens golf course in Fort Collins, securing a major victory for the city, which offered a $23.5 million incentive package to keep the company here.

The Fort Collins-based electrical component and aerospace company’s board of directors approved the $9 million land purchase Wednesday. The decision was announced Friday morning by Woodward CEO Tom Gendron.

The company’s $200 million redevelopment of the 101-acre golf course on the fringe of downtown Fort Collins is considered a catalyst project for the Lincoln Triangle and Mulberry Street, as well as much of Old Town. Eventually, it could bring about 1,700 workers to the site along Lemay Avenue just north of the Poudre River.

It will also include some retail shops along Lemay that will help offset some site development costs.

Fort Collins City Manager Darin Atteberry has called Woodward’s plan a legacy project the likes of which the city hasn’t seen since Anheuser-Busch built its Budweiser plant north of Fort Collins 25 years ago. “I have appreciated from Day 1, Tom’s (Gendron) commitment to the downtown environment,” Atteberry said. “I don’t think we even really fully understand all the benefits that will come as a result of this investment. I am looking forward with great enthusiasm to the future.”

Woodward, which has been part of Fort Collins since 1955 and had its corporate headquarters here since 1997, has proposed building a campus in phases, beginning with a 215,000-square-foot Industrial Turbomachinery Systems building followed by its corporate headquarters and engines technology building. Other phases will follow as business demands. The city financing package will also be implemented in phases, with $6.8 million in rebated use taxes and fees delivered over time.

The company said it will also receive enterprise zone and job creation tax credits from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and Colorado Economic Development Commission.

(Page 2 of 3)

Gendron said the cost of land and construction will total about $200 million, with an additional $50 million invested in new equipment. Woodward plans to keep its current facility on Drake Road, but how it and Woodward’s Loveland facility will be used is still being worked out.

Woodward’s facilities in Fort Collins and Loveland are at capacity and the company needs more room to accommodate anticipated growth in its two key business sectors: aerospace and energy, Gendron said.

“We have had very good success in winning new business and recognized the need for new capacity and to modernize our capacity,” he said. As the company looked at how to do that, Gendron said he wanted to make sure the company was in a competitive community with a skilled workforce that had good infrastructure and a good quality of life that allowed Woodward to attract and retain workers.

Proximity to a “thriving Old Town area” and Colorado State University’s nearby engines lab and campus were key to Woodward’s decision to expand in Fort Collins, Gendron said. “I see a lot of dynamic activity in Old Town and we want to be a part of helping with the discussion and enabling the community to execute its vision for the area,” Gendron said.

The site is within the city’s Poudre River District and the Lincoln Triangle, areas the city sees as ripe for redevelopment. Preliminary plans envision new businesses and restaurants to complement the rich beer culture created by New Belgium Brewing Co., Fort Collins Brewery and Odell Brewing Co., right across Lincoln Avenue from the new Woodward site.

Betty Aragon, spokeswoman for the Buckingham and Alta Visa neighborhoods near the new Woodward site, said she was ecstatic the Woodward plan is moving forward and a longtime business will remain in the city.

“I am really pleased we have a really good company in there,” she said. “They’re a huge corporation and employ a lot of people here. I am very pleased they didn’t go to another city. That wouldn’t have been good for Fort Collins.”

(Page 3 of 3)

Aragon also credited developer Allen Ginsborg, who initially brought Woodward to the project he was developing at the Link-N-Greens site. Ginsborg “did a really good job” of making all the neighborhood meetings happen and keeping the public informed of plans.

Under the financing agreement with the city, Woodward would deed back about 30 acres along the Poudre River trail.

Phasing of the complex agreement is tied to the company reaching 1,400 employees. Currently, the company has about 700 workers in Fort Collins.

The largest source of revenue for the package — $16.7 million — would come from property taxes that would otherwise go to the Downtown Development Authority through the increased value of the property. DDA staff has recommended committing all of that revenue to the project for facade improvements, moving a Platte River Power Authority transmission line, right-of-way improvements to Lincoln and Lemay, moving the Poudre River Trail farther from the river and restoring much of the natural habitat.

The project is expected to create about 1,800 construction jobs. Michigan-based Ghafari Associates will provide architectural and engineering services and M.A. Mortensen Co. of Minneapolis will serve as the construction manager and general contractor.

Site work is expected to begin this summer with the first building up and running in about 18 months.